You or her - or both
by Elenyiorene
Summary: SPOILER WARNING for Episode 2 - I recommend you watch/play the Episode first. Max suddenly realizes that it can't go on like this forever. (English isn't my native language, so if there are any errors in the story please point them out to me and I'll correct them.)


You or her – or both

I knew it couldn't go on like this. It seemed like the whole universe wanted Chloe Price to die. My headaches and nosebleeds had been getting continously worse every time I rewound – it had just been luck that my power had never failed in critical moments again.

I had managed to save Chloe every damn time now, but I lived in constant fear of her being in a situation that I couldn't save her from. What if something that had happened days ago made her die? I wouldn't be able to rewind that far. Or maybe I could, but I wouldn't be able to change anything then because I'd just collapse instantly.

_»Meet me at the lighthouse. Right now. It's important.«_ That was my text to Chloe. Then I switched my phone off. I had to tell her this personally, not over texts or a phone call. Walking to the lighthouse took some time, but when I arrived Chloe was nowhere to be seen.

Swearing, I switched my phone back on. God dammit, Chloe, this is fucking important! It can't wait!, I thought while staring at the starting screen angrily. _»3 new messages«_ Ah, for fucks sake. What happened to »I'll be your sidekick, no questions asked«?

_»Max, step douche locked me in the house. Can't get out.«_

_»Max? U there? What's so important?«_

_»Can u rewind and help me escape?«_

Fuck, no. This was literally the worst thing that could happen. I checked the time Chloe sent her first text – 10:34 pm. More than 10 minutes ago.

_»Sorry Che, can't rewind that far. You have to think of another way out.« _I felt horrible writing that, but it was true. Unless I could somehow lure David out of the house, I couldn't help Chloe. But wait – that was the solution! I just had to lure David away. I was pretty sure he would react to a text from, let's say, Principal Wells really fast... especially if it was about Kate Marsh.

So back to Blackwell Academy I went. I had texted Chloe that I was gonna take care of the step douche, she just had to find spare keys or something to get out. I knocked on the principal's office door. My plan was to tell him about David taking pictures of Kate right before she tried to kill herself – I was pretty sure that he would do something about it after such a serious incident.

But it turned out he wouldn't. He accused me of blackmailing David because he 'knew' I was a pot dealer. So I rewound back to before I entered the office. My new plan included Alyssa. I warned her about people throwing stuff at her twice, so I thought that she would surely do me a favour.

I told her she had to go to Principal Wells and tell him that she had seen David stalking Kate just minutes before she almost jumped off that roof. She agreed, and when she came out of the office she smiled at me and told me that Mr Wells took out his phone and called David as soon as she had told him about the whole thing. It was great, my plan seemed to work out. After just a few minutes, I got another text from Chloe.

_»Magic Max strikes again, the step fuhrer just left the house. I'll be at the lighthouse in a few. Have to walk so it'll look as if I were still there.«_ So I went back to the lighthouse – I was really walking back and forth between there and Blackwell too many times today.

Chloe wasn't there when I arrived, but this time I knew she was on her way. I sat down on the bench and watched the sunset. I was pretty proud of myself – it was the first time in days that I managed to do something practically without my rewind power. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even hear Chloe coming up the way to the lighthouse.

»You're pretty awesome, you know that, Max?« Surprised, I turned my head to the left. »Holy fuck, Chloe, how long have you been sitting there?!« She had that special smile on her face again. I had missed that smile so much while I was in Seattle. »Oh, just a few seconds... or minutes«, she said while still giving me that grin.

That anwser irritated me a bit, but I still had something to tell her. »Che. I have to tell you something very, very important. I want you to listen to what I have to say first. Please don't interrupt me, okay?« The way she looked at me said _Oh shit. She's gonna confess or something._

»It's even worse than what you think. It's a life-or-death-thing. So listen.« She just nodded this time. I took a deep breath and began to explain: »You.. you know how many times I saved you up until now, right, Che? I don't think you do. You think it's been two times – first the incident with Nathan in the bathroom and then the train. But that's not it. I saved you even more. Heck, I don't even know how many times it was myself! You shot yourself twice when we were 'testing my powers' on the bottles. Frank stabbed you. And so much more happened, Chloe. I don't even remember most of it – because I've rewound so many times. It seems to me that everything in this world wants to kill you, as if it was your fate to die. Sure, I could just rewind everytime you die. But you've seen what happens to me if I manipulate time to much. I get bad nosebleeds, headaches and eventually pass out. Che... I'm really sorry. But I won't be able to prevent you from dying much longer. It's like the universe wants to tell me 'Either she dies – or you do'.«

Chloe raised a hand to my face and wiped off a few tears. I hadn't even noticed I was crying... »It's okay, Max. I know you can't save me forever.« She took my hands. »We won't let fate win this shit. Fate is a dumb bitch if it thinks it can take you from me. You know what? It doesn't have to be either you or me. If the universe wants one of us to die, to maintain the balance or something – then we'll show it that it doesn't rule over us. What I'm saying, Max, is... well. Somebody has to die, I understand that. But I don't want to live without you, and I also don't want to leave you behind feeling guilty about me dying...«

I looked her in the eyes. »Are you saying that we won't let fate or something decide that one of us dies, but rather decide ourselves that we both die?« Amazing. Chloe had the exact same thought I had.

She gave me her perfect smile again.. »Are _you_ saying that you're okay with that?« This time, I nodded and gave her my best smile. »So we'll do our best to prevent the tornado, and then we'll leave all of this behind? Pirate promise?« _Pirate promise._ That was... a long time ago. Our last pirate promise was to never leave each other... And, in a way, we never broke it. I left for five years – but now I'm back.

»Pirate promise.«


End file.
